"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the misery of coal mining, written in 1947 by U.S. country singer Merle Travis. A 1955 version recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford was on the b-side of "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry". However it was Ford's Sixteen Tons that reached number one in the Billboard charts. On October 17, it was released and, by October 28, it sold 400,000 copies. On November 10, a million copies had been sold. The record had sold 2,000,000 copies on December 15.

The well-known chorus runs:

You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt.

Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go;

I owe my soul to the company store...

The line from the chorus "another day older and deeper in debt" was a phrase often used by Travis' father, a coal miner himself.

This and the line "I owe my soul to the company store" is a reference to the truck system and to debt bondage. Under this system workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with unexchangeable credit vouchers for goods at the company store (usually referred to as scrip). This made it impossible for workers to store up cash savings. Workers also usually lived in company-owned dormitories or apartment buildings, the rent for which was automatically deducted from their pay.

In the U.S. the truck system and associated debt bondage persisted until the strikes of the newly-formed United Mine Workers and affiliated unions forced an end to such practices.

The song was covered by a wide variety of musicians. Examples include a rock version released by Eels on their live album "Sixteen Tons (10 Songs)" (2005) and a slow, jazzy version released by Stan Ridgway on the album Anatomy (1999).

External links

• Sixteen Tons - the history behind the legend

References

• The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (fifth edition)

1947 songs | 1955 singles | Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles

Sixteen Tons